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Rumors have been surfacing in India about dangerous problems with the Tata Nano. One unit of the ultimate entry-level car reportedly burst into flames while being driven in Mumbai. While being driven home in his new Nano just after taking delivery, Satish Sawant noticed a motorcyclist signaling there was a problem with his car. Indian Autos Blog reports that the biker furiously pointed to the rear of the car, which was apparently in flames. "I have no idea what happened," Sawant said. "The engine was behind me and I did not realise that the car was on fire." The driver and passenger got out of the car safely. Firefighters successfully extinguished the flames, and police in the city have begun an investigation. Vehicles of all types and brands catching fire on their own is nothing new. However, stories of other Nanos have recently surfaced about smoke emerging from the car's steering column, wheel bearings that spike in temperature, and general overheating. With the engine in the Nano's rear, it leads one to wonder if the car has the same design flaw as the original Abarth 500. Owners of the original Abarth 500 had to use a stick to keep the trunk propped open to keep the car from overheating.

Tata Nexon, the upcoming SUV to be launch in festive season around September-October 2017 in the Indian market in both the Diesel and petrol engine with the 1.2L turbocharged Revotron engine and all-new 1.5L Revotorq engine. Source: Tata Nexon

Tata's little Nano, which was born as one of the most affordable car in the world, receives an update as an attempt to move away from being too cheap. Renamed the GeneX Nano, it gets a few major upgrades, the biggest one being a new Easy Shift automated manual transmission with 'Sports' mode for enhanced acceleration and 'creep' feature for heavy traffic maneuverability and parking ease. Other new features include switching to using electric Power Assisted Steering (ePAS), a larger fuel tank, a rear hatch that now opens, enhanced safety, new connectivity features and a slightly revised design. The new model can be ordered with either the aforementioned new five-speed automated gearbox or a four-speed manual. There is no change to the power unit which means the 0.6-litre 2 cylinder petrol still produces 37bhp and 51Nm of torque as before. Officially, the GenX Nano returns 23.6km/L. Safety wise, the new model now features a crumple zone for front impacts while side doors come with intrusion beams to protect occupants from side impacts. An anti-roll bar has been added to improve high speed stabiltiy. The car also has 'SUV-like ground clearance' of 180mm for India's rough roads. It is now on sale in India starting from S$4,165 for the base model. As a reference, the first generation Nano cost around $3,140 in 2012.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Tata-Motors-managing-director-Karl-Slym-falls-off-Bangkok-hotel-dies/articleshow/29426972.cms Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym falls off Bangkok hotel, dies TNN & Agencies | Jan 27, 2014, 12.25AM IST NEW DELHI/BANGKOK: Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym died on Sunday after apparently falling from a high floor of a five-star hotel in Bangkok. Slym, who was scripting a revival strategy for the company, had gone to Thailand to attend a board meeting of the firm's unit there. A company spokesperson said a postmortem would be carried out on Monday. Details about the accident were sketchy. Bloomberg quoted a company spokeswoman as saying that he fell from the city's Shangri-La hotel, where he was staying, Slym, 51, a British national, was known to be an affable and highly-focused manager. He was the head of GM's India operations before joining Tata Motors in October 2012. He was the first expatriate and the fourth managing director of the $100 billion Tata Group's flagship company, Tata Motors. "Karl (Slym) joined us in October 2012, and was a valued colleague who was providing strong leadership at a challenging time for the Indian auto industry. In this hour of grief, our thoughts are with Karl's wife and family," Tata Motors chairman Cyrus P Mistry said in a statement. Tata Motors has been going through a rough patch particularly as buyers shunned the low-cost Nano after its spectacular debut in March 2009. It's other cars such as the Indica and Indigo too have struggled in a market hit by the economic slowdown. As part of a restructuring exercise Slym last week had announced a voluntary retirement scheme to trim costs. Slym, who had a Master of Science in Business Administration from Stanford University, was not new to challenges. Between 2007 and 2011, he had steered GM India through very tough times. Hit hard by the global economic slump after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, GM had gone bankrupt in the US, denting consumer confidence even in India. He soon came out with an answer to instil confidence among buyers, unleashing the 'Chevy promise' campaign, where he appeared in ads with his hand over the heart, promising to offer free maintenance and service for all GM cars for three years after payment of a nominal amount. The scheme worked for GM India. Although, Slym left for China, his stint at GM India had come under scrutiny a few months ago after the government ordered an enquiry over the recall of Tavera. Slym returned to India within a year, but joined Tata Motors. In an interview with TOI last Wednesday he exuded confidence and said the company may be down, but not out. In what was perhaps his last media interview, Slym also told TOI that he was confident that the Nano would bounce back in a modern and young avatar, and had detailed plans for new launches. "We are confident of regaining our second-biggest Indian carmaker position as we move ahead with new plans," he had said. Besides work, Slym loved cricket. He was upset of not getting a Mumbai Indians T-shirt of his size ahead of the 2013 IPL final match. "His death comes at a time when the company seems to be close to turning the corner, with new designs and a new petrol engine family, which hasn't been Tata's strong point," Anil Sharma, an analyst with IHS Automotive was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. Tata Motors recently introduced a new petrol engine for its passenger vehicles and has been planning to launch a new hatchback and compact sedan this year, its first new branded passenger vehicles since 2010. "It (his death) comes before his efforts bear fruit. We should be able to see the results of his work in a year or two," Sharma said.

Introducing the Moon Rover. No unlike the name suggests this is not a new moon buggy NASA has built for transportation on the moon, though it looks better than ones NASA has built. Big Daddy Customs from India has made a Moon Rover, which is essentially a Tata Safari SUV that is retooled to look like an erm, Range Rover Evoque, despite the Evoque being wider and shorter in wheelbase and height. Nonetheless, from the pictures, you can tell it is neither horrible, nor is it anywhere close to the original. The front resembles the Evoque or it tries to and the "custom white paint job" comes as standard. The custom conversion kit comes with an Evoque replica front bumper, angel eyes for headlamps, LED daytime running lamps on the front bumper. Also included are Alloy wheels, replica tail lamps and quad exhaust pipes with chrome tips. Photo Credit: Big Daddy Customs

[extract] Taking over Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford has actually made TaTa Motors very profitable. From April to June of 2010, 2nd quarter sales Tata had posted a net profit of US$430million. From this figure, Jaguar-Land Rover sales have contributed to US$348million. Tata

Bloomberg, that all knowledgeable financial software, news, and data company, has very recently reported that Tata Motors Ltd has plans to raise billions of......rupees in order to expand the operations of its recently purchased luxury automotive brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, as well as pare down the debt brought about for the purchase of the above mentioned brands in the first place. Refinancing of debts is a usual thing nowadays as even giant conglomerates like TATA also resort to this financial decision. Now the actual amount in US Dollars is only One ($1) Billion. It sounds so massive in when converted in Rupees - 47 Billion Rupees. The Indian company also famous for building that ultra cheap Nano car is actually gearing up Jaguar-Land Rover for growth in emerging markets, namely China and India. Tata will open up more showrooms in India and in China, a sales/ distribution company. Jaguar sold 8,821 units in a 10 month period. This is 8,000 cars that Jaguar would not have sold if it had not entered the Chinese market. It would seem pretty good business sense for Jaguar-Land Rover to expand into these markets which is expanding in leaps and bounds. This is also coupled with the fact that the new Jaguar XJ and XF as well as the current crop of Range Rovers and Land Rovers are actually brilliant products that people actually want to buy. Tata is planning to raise the amount via shares, equity and the like in order to come up with the $1 billion required for this exercise. Earlier, Tata had already raised 41 billion rupees through a rights offer in October 2008. The Tata Group, which is the holding company which other businesses include making steel, computer software, tea and power , invested 30 billion rupees by subscribing to the offer. And while Tata Motors had debt of 185.3 billion rupees (according to Bloomberg financial data), partly due to the loans taken to purchase the luxury vehicle unit from Ford Motor Co. for $2.5 billion in 2008, the corporate family rating was raised to B2 from B3 with a positive outlook at Moody

Word on the web would have us believe that Geely has its eyes set on snatching the least-expensive car crown from Tata. The Chinese automaker has announced that it will bring its IG concept to market, and that it will cost a mere $2,250 at current conversion rates. If that's not enough to raise your eyebrows, the company says that its pint-size econobox will be a higher-quality alternative to what's currently rolling out of India. Granted, that's not exactly an atmospheric quality goal, but at this price point, every little bit helps. Expect to see a 70 horsepower, 1.0-liter engine to put power to the front wheels via a CVT gearbox when the car hits markets in China and Russia. The company hasn't made mention of any fuel economy numbers just yet, but we have to imagine the IG can hold its own in that department. Autocar reports that the company plans to have the IG in showrooms by 2012, and that there's some chance that an all-electric version will crop up in both Europe and the U.S. not long after. The company is already planning to swap the gasoline engine for an electric motor with 80 horsepower and 133 lb-ft of torque. There's no word on what we can expect in terms of top speed, but the company says the concept is capable of cruising for 93 miles on a single charge. [source: Autocar]

Following its world premiere at last year's Geneva Salon, Tata brought its oddly named Pr1ma concept car back home for the New Delhi motor show. Designed and built by famous Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina, the Pr1ma is suppose to offer an indication of how the next generation of Tata saloons could be stylistically interpreted. The compact-size four-door saloon is based on the platform of the first Indian sedan, the Tata Indigo, featuring a wheelbase of 2.700 mm. Neither Tata or Pininfarina have released any more information about the Pr1ma. My best guess is that it will be powered by a range of engines between 1.6L to 2.0L. The styling of the Prlma looks clean yet refreshing to me. The nicely integrated exhaust reminds me of those found in the upmarket Lexus LS460 and the side profile of the car is similar to the peugeot 407. Let's hope that the production model follows the styling cues of the concept closely.

Will the Tata Nano ever come to Singapore? Any chance? When? Or anyone has news say in sg for research like smart 4bytwo...

well, since we are flooded with jap, korean, conti, and now china made, where is india made???.... tata is the biggest car maker in india ...... wonder why nobody bring in?? im sure their price should be able to match those from china if not lower... http://www.tatamotors.com/products/ http://www.driveinside.com/Research/PhotoG...PObeXmIgQ%3d%3d

Cars fer the masses by Tata India.........made not by nor with nano technology. Priced very cheep cheep, only US$2,500. Checkout here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2252564,00.asp Soon will MCF hv an "India Talk" section................

Saw at SCS that Decibel gonna scrap his swift....lots of memories for ur 1 yr ownership (if i'm not wrong) So wat is ur next ride gonna be bro?? Take care and enjoy ur ns